Marine life's never looked so peaceful, but this Little Mermaid wending her way through the turquoise shallows is not quite one of the shoal.

In the line of characters like Ariel from the Disney movie and Madison, Daryl Hannah's half-woman, half-fish from 1984's Splash, Mermaid Melissa is an aquatic star who swims like a real fish thanks to a bespoke £3,500 tail that weighs up to four stone.

But although she looks the mythical part to us enjoying a dip with a fever of friendly-looking rays - yep, that's what you call a group of the fellas - it's a surprise that a fellow marine creature mistook her for one of their own.

Mermaid Melissa was swimming in the Cayman Islands when, she told the Huffington Post: "I went to wave at the crowd and a bow-mouthed guitar fish - a member of the sting ray family - stuffed my hand in his mouth and crunched my fingers back"

""I think he thought I was food by the way I was waving to the crowd and he sucked my entire hand up into his mouth with one strong crunch.

"The sound underwater was amplified so it sounded like I cracked all my knuckles at the same time... at least I was hoping it was just knuckles."

A few weeks before stingray incident, Mermaid Melissa shared another few close calls - there was the time she nearly got snagged on rusty metal by an old shipwreck, the long green eel who was curious about her and even the time she was stung by a jelly fish.

She's made it her work to swim around like a magical creature underwater, and she says that she enjoys it despite the dangers - although she reveals an unusual problem for someone of her species when the going gets rough.

"I have to make sure I don't get seasick - yes, mermaids can get seasick," she said.